Birthday Breakdown: Our Picks For Prince’s Top 10 Songs

Prince Rogers Nelson (better known as[lastfm link_type=”artist_info”] Prince[/lastfm]) is one of the biggest musicians in the world–creating finely-crafted erotically-tinged pop tunes since 1976. Prince has been honored with ten platinum records, seven Grammy awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award.

The Purple One is rumored to write a song a day–which can easily account for his thirty-five records during this career, but does not count all the hit songs he has written and worked on for other musicians.

In order to celebrate Prince’s illustrious career on his birthday, we decided to embark upon the daunting task of choosing Prince’s Top 10 Songs. It was hard to just pick ten, so let us know if we missed anything!

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10. “When Doves Cry”

Considered to have a guitar-shredding skill comparable to the impenetrable [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Jimi Hendrix[/lastfm], Prince’s song “When Doves Cry” shows off his massive musical power.

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9. “I Wanna Be Your Lover”

One of Prince’s first hit songs, “I Wanna Be Your Lover” fused the disco-pop feel at the time with a forward-thinking nod to the cool ’80s synth-funk that would soon emerge.

One of the many hits from Prince’s 1982 album, 1999, Little Red Corvette talks about a totally different kind of girl than the one wearing the “Raspberry Beret.” Prince’s corvette girl was a lot faster, feistier, and…scarier. Just the way men liked their girls in the early ’80s.

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6. “I Would Die 4 U”

From his 1984 album Purple Rain (and his smash-hit film of the same name), many people debate the exact meaning of the song “I Would Die 4 u,” but we personally appreciate how vague and smart Prince’s lyrics are.

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5. “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World”

One of his later hits, “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World” is from Prince’s 1995 album The Gold Experience and was allegedly written for his soon-to-be fiance, Mayte Garcia.

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4. “Kiss”

After the success of Purple Rain, Prince had a lot of prove with his new music and his 1986 album, Parade. While the record labels intially did not want Prince to release “Kiss” as a single, it inevitably became a huge hit.

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3. “Purple Rain”

Many people refer to Prince as the Purple One, mostly due to his love for purple and his iconic song from his ground-breaking film Purple Rain.

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2.”Party Like It’s 1999″

Based around the 1966 [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Mamas and Papas[/lastfm] song, “Monday Monday,” “Party Like It’s 1999” came from Prince’s 1982 album, 1999.Even though the theme behind the song is to party, it’s also a reminder from Prince that life doesn’t last forever, so make the most of it: Life is just a party and parties weren’t meant to last.

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1. “Let’s Go Crazy”

We put this song at number one because when we hear this song at a bar or club, there is no other song that will get us on our feet faster to dance than Prince’s hit “Let’s Go Crazy” from Purple Rain.